Whole30: RESULTS

This is the post you’ve all been waiting for, either because you are truly curious about my Whole30 results or because you’re glad it’s over so I can stop talking about god damn Whole30 and go back to regularly scheduled programming already!

So here it is... although, I will warn you from the get-go that it’s probably not what you’re expecting to hear.

For 30 days I fully and completely abstained from any form of alcohol, sugar, dairy, grains, legumes, and any form of chemical additives. I embraced the Whole30 program as it was intended. No cheats. No slips. No modifications.

It was hard and it was easy.

It was amazing. And it changed everything.

First of all, I have always been a mediocre sleeper. I tend to wake up in the night and not be able to get back to sleep and then feel like total shit the next day. That has all changed. I sleep solid now, all through the night. And if I happen to be woken up for whatever reason (kids!), I am able to fall right back to sleep again with no trouble.

My energy is more even and longer lasting. I no longer feel near dead at the end of the day. I have the energy to keep on going after 7pm. Oh the things that I have accomplished with this extended energy! Cupboards have been gutted and cleaned, the spice rack has been revamped, I go to bed with a clean kitchen every night. And when everyone was laying on the couch moaning and groaning with their top button undone after (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner, I was be-bopping around the house and contemplating going for a run. I felt that good.

I have had more mental clarity in the past 30 days than I may have ever had in my life. If you’ve read this blog for any period of time you know that I battle some demons. I’ve fought with anxiety and depression for years, most of my life, in fact. I feel guilt over everything I do and second guess myself all the time. That has stopped since Whole30. No, it hasn’t been all shiny, happy the whole time but I have had no use for anxiety medication, nor have I felt guilty ONCE. Not ONCE! My thoughts are clear and strong and positive. The noise and the fuzz and the bullshit that has held my head and my heart hostage for so many years has has been silenced. I feel confident and happy and stronger than I ever have.

As far as my physical changes – they have been amazing as well. I have been told I look younger and thinner (some frompeople who don’t regularly dish compliments). My clothes all fit better. My pants are looser. Several of my shirts which were either borderline too tight, or retired to the back of the closet due to “dryer shrinkage” *ahem* are now back in rotation. In fact, one shirt that was tight across my belly a month ago, is now almost sloppy looking on me due to the extra room.

I have a little area under my chin where the skin tends to get a bit “crepey” when I’ve lost weight. It is like that now. My belly, where I grew my two beautiful children, is not flat by any means, but it is definitely smaller and a little bit wrinkly now, much less round and bulging. I never thought I’d be proud of (nor telling the world about) a wrinkly tummy but dammit I totally am. My collar bone is more defined. My arms look thinner.

So how much weight did I actually lose? I’m sure you’re all wondering since I have said that weight loss was the main factor that drove me to do a Whole30 in the first place. Prior to Whole30 I was weighing myself obsessively every day (sometimes several times a day) hoping the numbers would be getting smaller. And when they didn’t get smaller (or not small enough), I was devastated - daily. Each day the scale would determine my mood and my self worth – which as time went on was deteriorating as the numbers weren’t cooperating. So my motivation to do a Whole30 partially came from that. I wanted to make that number smaller so I would look and feel better and be happier! I didn't want the scale to have that negative power over me anymore.

Ironically, the scale doesn’t have that power over me anymore – but not because of a smaller number. It’s because I am so much happier and more confident and stronger now. I can visually see improvement in my body composition. I can not imagine stamping a number on all of this and defining the experience with a number from that god forsaken scale. If I have learned anything from these 30 days, it is that I am worth more than I have been valuing myself. I deserve better things than I have been presenting myself with. The scale is just one small, relatively meaningless way of measuring gravity. It can’t measure all of the benefits and positive changes that I have brought upon myself.

Therefore, I refuse to cheapen my results by by publishing the actual number of pounds that I have lost.

As for where I’m going to go from here… I don’t plan on changing much. I like eating this way and feeling this good. Oh I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that I’m really looking forward to my first glass of wine or an ice cold beer, and there will be cheats that I savour every once in a while – but for the most part I plan to carry on. I have no reason to go back to where I was, and every reason to keep on moving forward.